PDM adopts Buhari as presidential candidate
(Nigeria) The National Chairman of Peoples Democratic
Movement, PDM) Alhaji Bashir Ibrahim, said it had resolved to support the All
Progressives Congress, APC presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari at the
February polls.Ibrahim announced this during a news conference he jointly held
with Buhari in Abuja on Tuesday.
According to Ibrahim, the party had registered close to six
million members manually and online and resolved to deploy this voting strength
for the best interest of Nigeria.
``We are here today to present to you the resolution of the
National Executive Committee of PDM to support Buhari. The NEC of our party, at
its meeting of Jan. 22, noted that the party has no presidential candidate for
the election of February 14 and had accepted the need to support a candidate.
``The NEC of PDM unanimously resolved to support your
candidature for president of Nigeria and calls on all members and supporters of
PDM across Nigeria to vote for you in the presidential election’’, he said.
He said the party believed in the strategy of working
separately and striking together.
``As a General in the military, I am sure you are aware of
the logic of this strategy. Therefore, we thought that the opposition should
have alternative platform and that was why we decided to stay separately as an
alternative platform in case something happens. Hopefully, nothing will happen
between now and February 14 when what the country expects will take place.’’
``There should be at least 10 women who will go into
matrimonial homes and bring out voters because history has shown that more
women vote in our elections than men. Therefore, If every canvasser brings out
10 voters, with every ballot box with 500 voters, your votes should be at least
250.
``The other parties will share the remaining votes and that
will automatically give you majority in every ballot box.’’
Ibrahim said being president wasn’t enough as Buhari needed
to have majority in the National and State Assemblies.
Responding, Buhari said ``I am extremely pleased to receive
you with such an articulated document from your party.
``This is an extremely pleasing day for me to get you on our
side. It is a major achievement because I know your capacity to analyse
situations and arrive at a credible conclusion.”
Buhari revealed that the APC had tried to woo the PDM but
the latter party had been silent on the matter.
``We had tried to egg you earlier on through your senior
colleague in the match, the Turaki of Adamawa State. The deafening silence worried
me to the extent that it was really a torture for a long time because he did
not come back to tell me what you were thinking.
``Now that you have turned up, I am extremely happy because
it is not a mean achievement’’, he said.
He said Nigeria was a strong country that could withstand
the kind of problems it had and the people were resilient to the amazement of
other nationals.
``It is only country like Nigeria that can survive and get
out of this situation we are in. A lot of countries will just disappear either
from the map or from the political equation of nation states. But Nigerians are
so resilient to the extent that there are international personalities who could
not understand Nigeria and why Nigeria still exists.
``There was a former United Nations Secretary General who
said that if he retires, he will go to Nigeria because, according to him, no
other country can go through what was happening to Nigeria and survive.’’
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